Manchester City rule out Mario Balotelli rumours
Manchester City official Brian Kidd has dismissed rumours regarding Mario Balotelli’s return, which state that the striker may well be out of action till November. Following the youngster’s 24 million pound move to Manchester City this summer, the player
had a mix life in England so far. Balotelli is yet to feature in a single premier league match, but made his debut for his new club while playing in a Europa league match against FC Timisoara.
The player scored in his debut match against Timisoara, but got injured and was sent back to his native land to begin his rehab work after getting his knee operated. His current employers expect the player to be back within a few months time. Earlier this
week, however, reports in Italy have claimed that damage to the player’s knee was way more than what City officials thought and Balotelli may well not be available for selection for at least 10 more weeks.
Balotelli has however returned to the Eastlands and his recovery work is right on target, with assistant manager Brian Kidd completely baffled as to where such reports came from. A product of Inter Milan’s youth academy, Balotelli has the ability to play
virtually anywhere on the forward line and is a set-piece specialist. Nick named as Super Mario, the player has the ability to torment any defence using his sheer pace and ability and his pin point finishing makes him a goal keeper’s worst nightmare. Sir Alex
Ferguson was also interested in acquiring the services of the youngster, labelling him to the next Cristiano Ronaldo. In his 86 appearances at such a young age for Inter Milan, Balotelli has scored on 28 occasions and has assisted on more than 15 times.
"There is nothing sinister in this. Mario has had the operation; he has come back and is now on with his rehabilitation. Wherever these other rumours are coming from, they are nonsense," claimed City’s assistant manager. Not only this, the controversial
teenager also did a peculiar thing on his hospital bed, when he waved an AC Milan shirt following his knee surgery. Manager Roberto Mancini has claimed that it was nothing but the player’s own sense of humour and not something serious. A point that needs to
be noted here is that for a player, who has spent virtually no time at the Eastlands, to be doing such “jokes” can only point towards a new episode to be developed at the Manchester City “Studios”.
It has been confirmed that former Arsenal player Emmanuel Adebayor would be playing any part in the Europa league opener against Salzburg on Thursday, leaving the manager with only one choice for the striker in the form on club captain Carlos Tevez and Brazilian
striker Jo. Although Jo was considered to be surplus to what City already had, yet he has become and become an integral part of Mancini’s plans. While talking to the media, the manager claimed Jo to be a great player and hoped that should he feature in the
Europa league match on Thursday, he might as well score a goal. Mancini outlined that the player has a good attitude and is technically sound. That is the reason Jo is still important to the big spending side.
Since joining Manchester City from Cska Moscow back in 2008, Jo has made several appearances for the outfit, scoring 3 times in 13 games. Jo was usually seen loaned out to other clubs but has been confirmed as part of the 25 man squad in the premier league.
Jo has already made 4 off the bench appearances thus far this season and was phenomenal whenever he had the ball at his feet.
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